Only on size of aggregates is not suitable for concrete manufacturing. If only coarse aggregate is used, the voids are extremely large: a very big amount of cement paste will be necessary to fill it and the final concrete will be expensive and characterised by several problems (shrinkage, heating). If only fine aggregate is used, the total surface to be bound with cement paste will be extremely large and again a very big amount of cement will be necessary.
Hence, a good aggregate grain size distribution is very important and reference curves are used for this purpose, such as Fuller curve, Bolomey curve, cubic curve, etc.. The correct procedure requires:- the sieving of the available aggregates the use of the graphical method for determining the percentage of the various aggregates to be used for the concrete manufacturing.
